Matt Hamill and Jon Jones are beefing like it’s 2009.
Dana White is apparently bizarrely trying to overturn a bout that happened a decade ago between Jon Jones and Matt Hamill, and Joe Rogan is in agreement. If that entire thing wasn’t weird enough, the discussion has led to both fighters beefing on social media like it’s 2009.
It first started when Matt Hamill suddenly called for a rematch with Jon Jones on Instagram.
He also replied to one of the comments, saying it will be different this time around.
“I didn’t get mauled last fight. I’m now back back wins,” Hamill wrote. “No worries. I made a mistake when jones took me down and broke my collar bone. I only have one arm to defended. Can’t escape from the bottom. So one arm to blocked jones elbow (no other fighters ever took me down but jones) I have a good takedown defense so it will be different in rematch. Woooooooooooooo baby let’s make it happen”
Jones commented on the post, mostly reacting to the dig at his drug test failures.
“Damn Matt, the disrespect,” Jones commented. “Thought you were smarter than this. Honestly, I’ve never said a bad thing about you.”
“Honestly, I was just blindsided. He’s a fellow upstate New York guy. Over these years I’ve always given him mad love. Funny how people are. I’m not even mad at him though, I understand it’s his claim to fame. Just wish he would have went about this a different way. It’s whatever.”
The UFC champ also took to his own Instagram account to say that he’s not trying to get a rematch with Hamill.
The pair originally fought in December 2009, with Jones dominating until he seemingly got frustrated while trying to finish, and threw several illegal 12-6 elbows. As it left Hamill unable to continue, Jones was disqualified and it became the only loss in his 11-year career.
While people like Rogan are free to think that banning 12-6 elbows is “dumb,” our thoughts on the rule shouldn’t matter in this case. The rule was there, and it was broken. Trying to overturn an outcome that happened a decade ago just to be able to favor and promote your “undefeated” champion is not only a bad look for the UFC, it could also set a weird precedent if they’re successful.